The world was at war; the ever growing threat of the Fright Zone was far more prevalent than it was before and they were gaining ground fast, the only way that the side of good had a chance of fighting back was the Princess Rebellion…Or at least it was until their forces were splintered to better look out for their own; Princess Perfuma stayed with her people in Plumeria in hopes that someone could help them and protect Nature, Princess Frosta kept firmly out of the fray as her kingdom of Snows was the largest and therefore had to remain neutral in the matter, Mermista however was the worst off as her family abandoned Salineas and left her as acting Monarch to protect the Sea Gate.
With the Rebellion pushing back and the Horde continuing their assaults, everyone was in a worrisome state of a unstable stalemate and at the head of it was Queen Angel-la who ruled in Brightmoon. She did everything she could to help ensure her kingdom in the Whispering Woods and her subjects would be safe though not everyone seemed to believe that, with one such call for fighting came from one of her own Generals. "For the last time, Commander Glimmer…We are not engaging the Horde! We need to recover what strength we have and gain our advantage, marching into fights will only strain what little forces we have and leave ourselves vulnerable."
"But we're losing ground by the day and every time we fall back to regroup, another village or a town gets lost!" The teenaged Glimmer argued with the Queen as she was determined to try making a change but her status as Angel-la's daughter and as the heiress to the throne complicated the matter a lot. "Besides, we can use the opportunity to reach out to the other Princesses and reinstate the Alliance…Just…We HAVE to do something or we're not going to have anything left to defend."
The Queen knew on some level that Glimmer was right and that backtracking will only hold them so much time, however at the same time she was still adamant on protecting Bright Moon…Along with those who live in it. "Commander Glimmer, I am not having this conversation anymore… You are to remain here in Bright Moon until I can agree on a new mission for you, you're too eager to start fighting and you still need to get a better control of your Magic."
Glimmer was taken aback and then growled in frustration, this level of stubbornness was too much even for her. "So that's all you're going to do? Put me under house arrest and not let me do anything?! I can still do a lot and Kai can help me out too but you're just…Just…You're just too scared to do anything!" She finally belted out and the whole court silenced into absolutely nothing.
"That does it…Glimmer, you are GROUNDED!" Angel-La finally had enough of her daughter's back talk and decided to put her authority out enough to stop Glimmer's rant. "I'm stopping you from missions and you will be confined to your room for a week until you can learn to exercise better restraint."
"I-wh-MOM!?" Glimmer finally broke down as she stomped her foot; "You're grounding me because I'm right?!"
"No, I'm grounding you because 1. You are still addressing your Queen and 2. I will not tolerate you undermining my decisions!" The Queen snapped as she pointed to the door; "Now go! I will still allow you to see Kai but aside from minor visits, it is Meals, Training and Room for you, young lady!"
Glimmer groaned in frustration as she flourished her sparkling cloak and headed out of the throne room towards the living quarters in a huff. Muttering her grievances to herself as she stomped to her room, she realised one thing that she could still do; "I need to vent…And I know just who to talk to."
Kai was an oddity, even for somewhere like Brightmoon; A boy that was just as old if not older than Glimmer but not yet allowed outside of the palace let alone into the council meetings, one of the few in the Rebellion who couldn't use magic but remained in high esteem and ward to Queen Angel-la and the former King Micah.
He wanted to be able to help in the Rebellion and fighting back but with his existence being a secret to everyone bar the now defunct Princess Alliance, Kai had been set some ironclad rules by the Queen.
1. He would always find Brightmoon to be his home.
2. No venturing outside of the castle beyond the gardens.
3. No mentioning to anyone outside of the Alliance beyond the Princesses that were still allies about who he was.
Kai couldn't use magic so that limited him greatly in terms of accountability but he was still willing to train and study what he could to become capable enough to show what he could do; In this particular instance he was currently doing exercises in his room to practice fighting but then stopped for a brief moment. "Hey Glimmer." He called out without even looking up or opening the door and earned an exasperated sigh as she opened up the door.
"Seriously, how do you always know that it's me?" Glimmer asked as she shut the door behind her.
"Well, you told me that you were seeing the Queen after your last mission and then it was just listening to you stomping down the halls…Honestly, it's a lucky guess most of the time when you're not mad." Kai mentioned as he playfully made his ears wiggle. "Plus when you're trying to practice how to fight in your room, it helps to have good hearing so Queen Angel-la doesn't get upset when she sends a guard to check if you're studying."
"Sometimes I wish I could learn how to do that…" Glimmer pouted as she sat on one of the poof cushions; "You hardly get in trouble with most of the stuff you do."
"I hardly get in trouble because I'm not allowed to leave the palace." Kai pointed out as he then peeked out of the window; "Thanks to your mom, I'm not exactly outside much."
"Well, I'm joining you there." Glimmer said with a sarcastic note in her voice; "Thanks to my mom, I can't do anything."
"Glimmer, you can literally teleport…Pretty sure that trumps a mom grounding you." Kai snarked and then got up; "Besides, I was thinking about going to stretch my legs anyway so you're welcome to join me."
Glimmer raised an eyebrow; She knew that Kai was loyal to the Queen but even he had his limits of following her when she house arrested him. "Fine, hide outside of my window in an hour and we can sneak off to go find something to do…" She said and headed for his door before stopping; "And make sure you're careful when we do go…My mom may like you enough but she won't be happy with you or me if you got caught or hurt behind her back."
"The glare will be worth being able to walk around in something that isn't four walls and a window." Kai shrugged as he watched her head out; "Besides…It's not like it's the first time that I've done this." He admitted as he grabbed a few things from under his bed like a retractable baton and a brown cloak he used for sneaking out.
It truthfully hadn't been the first time that he and Glimmer had snuck out of the castle but it was hardly the last as the two headed deep into the Whispering Woods, most of the time it had been when the Queen had been too overbearing on Glimmer and she wanted to spite her by helping Kai see the outside of the castle for a couple of hours.
"So what exactly happened that got the Queen to ground you? She normally just puts you on stronghold time out for being aggressive in a fight." Kai asked her as they walked through the forest, his hand idly using the necklace around his neck like a kaleidoscope; It had been a habit of his to hold up the gemstone in it to light as it helped him focus but on another level, it also made him feel good when a refracted beam of light caressed his face.
"Okay, you know how I've been telling Mom that we can't keep running back or playing safe forever?" Glimmer asked him and carried on when she saw the ward to the Queen nod; "Well, I had the idea of attacking a nearby basecamp where the Horde were hiding in and when someone decided to report it, they put me in the spotlight…Unfortunately the Queen knows best as she likes to say."
Kai continued to follow alongside her, taking the chance to enjoy the tranquility of the Woods; No Guard drills, no sounds of the Queen's arguments about tactics or the constant whisperings from people around him. "Well…It's not exactly ideal to be constantly on the back foot but the Queen does make a good point about some things." he pointed out as he ducked under a branch. "She's worried about everyone who's still around for the Rebellion which includes you…Technically me too as a baseline if you really want to be specific."
Glimmer frowned a little as she could emphasise with her oldest friend in that regard; While the Queen was willing to let Glimmer take her role as a Princess in Training and go out to do what she could….At least SHE was allowed to make an effort. "I do keep asking my mom if you can come out with me as a guardsman or at least to help plan things out, the only problem is that she spends most of her time worrying about every possible outcome." She mentioned as she then climbed over a toppled tree. "Like this tree, we'll see it as something in the forest but Mom will see it as a trail from an enemy tank and that we should retreat back to Brightmoon immediately."
"Uh…Glimmer?"
However it appeared that the Princess was too far into her tangent to hear him. "Or if a bird flies overhead? Then it's a Horde spy in disguise and we should hide in the nearest base while it moves away!"
"Glimmer…"
"Oh…Let's not forget the devious ploy from the Horde when Thaymor sent us a different courier for our vegetables, that alone was enough for the Queen to suddenly question him for the threats of espiona-"
"GLIMMER!" Kai finally broke her rant as he squished her cheeks together in his hands and pointed her face toward the clearing in the distance. "That wasn't there before, was it?" He asked as he gestured to the glimmering spot in the centre of the treeline.
Sat in the brambles and overgrowth with vines entangling it was a bright sword that looked like it was made of light, a humming blue blade that was etched with runes and looked undisturbed for an absurdly long time…The Sword of Protection.
"Wha….What is that?" Glimmer asked as she pulled herself free from Kai's hands and got closer to examine the sword. "It doesn't look like any kind of weapon I've seen before…Maybe it's magic?"
Kai was hesitant since glowing and abandoned swords were never always a good sign but ultimately went along. "It could be…But the runes on the blade don't look like anything I've seen in the books I have…Maybe it's First Ones' Tech?"
"You have books on the First Ones?" Glimmer asked with a raised eyebrow; "How did that get in your room without Mom getting a panic?"
"She said I had to study up on Etheria since I can't use magic so I just checked the library…It's not exactly full of definites but I do know the marki-"
"HEY! Get away from my dream sword!" A third voice shouted from the bushes as a blonde woman clambered over the tangle of vines and undergrowth.
This woman was around Kai's height and had blue-gray eyes that stared directly at the pair with her dark brown narrow eyebrows in a furrowed expression. She had long dark blonde hair, tied up in a high ponytail and a noticeable poof at the front. Her name? Adora.
"Who're you?" Kai asked as he kept cautious since he hadn't seen this girl before and mainly because if she was after the sword or looking to get at Bright Moon then that complicated things.
"Kai…She's a Horde Soldier…This is bad news." Glimmer growled as she readied her magic to stand off.
Adora wore a red short-sleeved jacket with a popped pale-beige collar and shoulder pads along with what looked like a Horde Force Captain badge. She also wore a set of taupe gray leggings and calf-length red boots with white accents. "Hey, hey! Take it easy, I'm not here on Horde business." She protested as she kept a step back but then did a double take when she saw Glimmer. "Wait…You're a princess…"
"Yeah! And you're a long way from the Fright Zone, Horde Soldier!" Glimmer growled as she made her hands start to spark with her magic as Kai grabbed his baton and extended it for defense.
Adora made her charge for the sword and decided that this particular princess wouldn't listen to what she had to say, her primary focus on the sword and getting answers. "If little miss Glitterbomb won't back off then I won't either!"
Glimmer teleported to the blade before her foe can reach it but an overshot made her miss the handle before she could teleport it away. She yelled to Kai, who made a break for it to help as she pushed her momentum and landed onto Adora's back. "You're not getting that sword!"
Yelling in a mix of pain and frustration as the princess pulled at her ponytail, Adora reached into her back pouch and used a bolas to try tripping Kai, only to see him get his wrists bound but kept his baton in hand. "Oh, come on!"
Kai struggled as he got closer and decided to ditch the baton, if she was after the sword then he could use what little sword training he had to keep her away. "Just give it up! You're not going to hurt anyone while we're around!" He yelled with a determined look.
Adora then let out a loud grunt and threw Glimmer off of her and staggered to her feet; "Well, I don't WANT to fight either of you but what I do want are answers!"
Glimmer narrowed her eyes with a distinct lack of belief in her; "Yeah, likely story…You just want us to drop our guards!" She snapped and then threw a blast of glitter at Adora's face to distract her. "Kai, get the sword! We're taking it and her back to Bright Moon!"
"On it!" Kai remarked as he dove to grab the sword by the handle, however it looked like that Glimmer tried to pin Adora again while the blonde lunged to try and reach for the sword. "No. You. Don't!" he yelled as he grabbed the sword's hilt at the same time that Adora grabbed it.
A sudden blinding flash of light exploded from the sword, engulfing everything with it and then when the flash died out; Adora lay there in an unconscious heap with Glimmer looking confused and Kai looking dazed. "What…was that?" The Princess asked quietly but then widened her eyes when she noticed that Kai's chest had started to glow. "Uh…Kai?" She called to him but got concerned when he looked like he had been dazed and shook him; "Kai! Snap out of it, something's going on with your….Necklace…" She said but then quietened when she saw the jewel tied around his neck start to dim down before returning to it's usual hue.
Once Kai's eyes returned to focus, it looked like he was okay; For a moment, he had been knocked out of focus but by the time he adjusted back to the waking world, something deep in the core of his brain popped and then everything felt excruciating as it faded to white.
Glimmer was both confused at the sudden reactionary whiplash and terrified at seeing the normally calm and mellowed out Kai double over in screaming pain. "K-Kai! What is it?! Did she do something to you?!" She asked with growing panic and concern while laying him down carefully so he wouldn't swallow his tongue. "He was fine up unti-The sword!" She mused before rushing over and grabbing the sword and moving away from the both of them.
Kai was the first one to regain consciousness after the episode stopped; His body stopped twitching and convulsing as he mumbled a little in his mock-sleep, slowly opening up his eyes before squinting them again like he had just been in a cave; "Whu-What happened?" He groaned as he sat up from his spot with seemingly no clue that he nearly gave Glimmer a heart attack. "Glimmer, you okay? The Horde girl didn't hurt you in the fight, did she?"
"Me?! The more important question is are YOU okay! Good lord, Kai…I just saw your necklace glowing but then you collapse to the ground and flop around like a fish." Glimmer started to raise her voice but then sighed as she tried to calm herself down. "I'm fine, the soldier just touched the sword and she just conked out like a light."
"I collapsed?" Kai asked as he tried to recollect what had happened; "Well…I helped you get the sword and then everything went white." He said as he tapped his hand to his ears and then blinked several times. "Did something happen? Everything's all….weird…"
"Weird? Weird how?" Glimmer asked as she walked over and knelt in front of him, mirroring what he did with her earlier by cupping his cheeks and turning him back and forth; "You don't look different and aside from the squinting…What's with that, by the way?"
"I don't know…Everything just…feels brighter and I can hear way more than I should." Kai grimaced as he looked around. "It's like I've been wearing a blindfold and earplugs for a week and I've only just taken them out." He listed off as he tried to explain what it was that he felt; "But now everything feels brighter, like I can see the colours in your hair more definitively….And louder too….I can practically hear the sound of that bird's feathers fluttering in the air."
"What bi-" Glimmer asked before getting caught off guard by a bird suddenly taking flight a few seconds afterward, it took a moment for the Princess to put the pieces together but she managed to get some theories. "Okay, let's think it through…The sword flashed and Kai got hit by the light which caused his chest to glow….He ended up having a seizure on the floor and now he says that he can see and hear better than before…Is it some weird magic from the sword?"
A groan interrupted the two as Adora was struggling to regain her consciousness and Kai decided to not take chances; "We can discuss this whole thing later, for now let's make sure that the Horde Soldier doesn't get the sword." He opted and then reached for his pack and started leafing through it.
"Oh yeah, sure…Capture the Soldier…Unfortunately I left my special Horde Catching Rope back in my room." Glimmer remarked sarcastically as she kept her eye on Adora in case she started to move.
"Then it's good that I brought some." Kai remarked as he pulled out a spool of rope from his bag and unfurled it; "Let's tie her wrists and walk her back to Bright Moon…We didn't bring any transport and I still don't think you can teleport all three of us to the castle without passing out."
"I'm getting better at it, okay?!" Glimmer barked at him as she started tying Adora's wrists together; "You know it's hard for me since I have to charge my Magic from the Opal."
"Well…Magic's still pretty cool, you're throwing light around and teleporting. That's pretty awesome on it's own. Glimmer." Kai added as he smiled a little; In all honesty, he was a little jealous that Glimmer could use magic, he wanted to be a sorcerer like King Micah but he didn't have the capacity to use even a basic spell.
The Bright Moon Princess blushed a little in embarrassment from the praise but decided to play it off; "Y-You can't just butter me up like that and expect to take it easy, you still have to walk her while I go on ahead." Glimmer snarked as she handed the end of the rope to him. "It shouldn't be too hard anyway, it looked like the Sword took it out of her so just try not to stare at anything too intensely and it won't hurt your eyes."
By the time that Adora woke up, she saw both Kai and Glimmer staring down at her; "What happened?"
"You be quiet, Horde Spy!" Glimmer growled as she pointed at Adora's face. "I'll be the one to interrogate you, for starters; How did you even get this far into the Whispering Woods? How many of you are there?"
"I already told you why I'm here, I just walked in and third, I snuck out of the Fright Zone to be here." Adora rattled off her answers in a more irritable tone now that she had been captured by a Princess who was all too eager to rub it in her face. "You guys just let anyone in here? There's no walls or gates to protect so anyone can get in, that doesn't bother you at all?"
"I'd have thought the Horde were more knowledgeable than that…The Whispering Woods is under the Rebellion's protection and you were lucky to make it as far as you did." Kai mentioned plainly as he held on to the rope and got himself and Adora to their feet.
"Come on, Kai. Let's get this spy back to Bright Moon where she can be interrogated properly, if she won't answer to us then we have other people that she will." Glimmer ordered as she started marching in front of them. "This is perfect. Not only did we get some First Ones tech for the Rebellion, we've also captured a Horde spy. My mom's gonna be so impressed, she'll be begging to let me and Kai work full time for the Rebellion!" She thought to herself as they walked, though after a few minutes; It was clear that the way back was harder than the way out.
By the time that Kai decided to quiz her on this, they had been going in circles. "Uh…You sure this is the right way?" He asked as he he glanced around to see that pretty much everything looked the same despite walking around like they did.
"I know what I'm doing! I just…Can't you please trust me on this one?" Glimmer snapped as she stopped to try getting her bearings. "Look, I've got this…I just need to plan this out." She said before she vanished into sparkles.
Adora looked confused as she noticed Kai's eyes wandering the forest like he could tell where she was even after teleporting but ultimately decided to keep quiet and play the stoic soldier part while with her captor.
"Not feeling chatty, huh?" Kai asked her to break the tension. "Look, I know Glimmer's a lot to handle from the get-go but she's really nice once you get to know her."
"I would prefer not to swap pleasantries with my captors." Adora remarked with a stiff tone as she marched alongside Kai; As she sized him up with the sword strapped to his back to keep safe, she noticed that some things were rather contrasting with him compared to the princess that he was with. While Glimmer was short and stocky, Kai was around Rojelio's height though he was equally as heavy set but she knew from basic training that being thicker did not always equate to softness. Though his short dark hair and blue eyes gave off the impression that he was a soldier, he wasn't exactly fully dressed like one especially with the silvery jeweled necklace he wore. "Either he's some secret undercover soldier charged with the Princess or he's a princeling that tagged along with for an adventure…"
"Alrighty, silent treatment it is…For the whooooooole way back." Kai drew it out so he could make her realise how awkward that she made it and partly to mess with her. The walk after that was silent as his eyes flitted to different parts of the treeline as he could hear Glimmer's sparkling from her teleports.
Eventually the silence nagged at Adora as she now had her own questions, specifically for outside of the Princess's hearing range: "You don't have magic, do you?" She asked and then saw him shake his head honestly, "You know she's a princess, right? How can you follow someone as stubborn as her? Princesses are a dangerous threat to everyone on Etheria."
"Because Glimmer isn't dangerous…Stubborn? Sure…A little dorky? Maybe…But dangerous? No way." Kai answered as he looked to Adora as he slowed his walking. "Is that what the Horde's been telling you?"
"Princesses are common knowledge, there's no one in Etheria who doesn't know what a Princess is but they're still violent instigators who don't even know how to control their powers."
"Okay, you're just jumping from conclusion to conclusion…Have you actually met a Princess before? If you say yes then I'll hear you out but otherwise..." Kai began to get annoyed by Adora's accusations, especially when it concerned the people who took him in but a whimpering took him out of it again as they heard Glimmer on the ground in the distance.
After the two broke through bushes; They ended up seeing what looked like a small broken down village hidden in a nook of the Woods. "What…What happened here?" Adora asked as she saw Glimmer turn to face her with a piece of paper clenched in her hands: It was a torn picture that looked like a child's drawing of them holding hands with an adult.
"You…You happened here! Don't you dare play dumb, I know your game: You wander around looking for tech after destroying innocent lives and then pretend that you aren't an army of heartless destroyers!" Glimmer yelled at Adora, the sight of the damage done and the fact that her words against the Queen were validated touched on more than just one nerve.
"What are y-I'm not a destroyer and the Horde wouldn't do something like this!" Adora protested as she got incensed at the idea that she'd cause such damage. "The Horde aren't the bad guys! We're trying to fix things, make them orderly and safe for everyone to co-exist!"
"That is the biggest load of garbage that I have ever heard!" Glimmer yelled as she got into Adora's face when she tried to justify herself. "What's best for Etheria?! Ever since The Horde got here and started expanding, they've been poisoning our land, burning our cities, destroying everything in their path… And you have the GALL to say that you're not a part of it! How's that for orderly?"
Kai placed a hand on her shoulder to try calming her down but she shrugged him off and stomped away before she did something drastic. "You seriously didn't know about any of this? How exactly could you not…The whole of Etheria calls you the Evil Horde." He quizzed her, both trying to mediate and to better understand since he had a better handle on himself at the moment.
"I…It just doesn't make sense…The Horde rescued me when I was a baby and gave me a home…A purpose. They're my family, You- you come from a literal palace, so don't act like you know them like I do or what it's like."
"I don't, huh?" Kai asked with a more raw tone in his voice as his expression narrowed at her comment to him. "I may have been raised by the Queen and allowed to live in the palace but I at least know what's right and what's wrong…And if you think that any of this is right? Then maybe you don't know them as well as you think they do."
Adora was about to lay into him with another comment but the two were thrown off guard by Glimmer's yelling and her running through the underbrush with a panicked look on her face. "There's something out there. Something big….Really big and it's coming after us!" Glimmer yelled as she tried getting the two to run as well.
And in hot pursuit of their prey was a giant bug monster that screeched at the sight of two extra pieces of meat to consume.
"Okay…That's pretty big." Adora mumbled as she looked to Kai, "You have to give me the sword!" She urged him and reached her bound hands out to grab it.
"Absolutely not!" Kai snapped as he got away from Adora's grabby hands. "I may not be as suspicious of you as Glimmer is but I'm not going to put a weapon in a Horde Soldier's hands!"
"It's either that or we all get turned into bug food…And I'm pretty sure that sparkles can't vaporise something like that…Can she?" Adora pushed him further as she saw Glimmer summon up her light balls to start throwing at the bug but it proved to not do so much.
Kai knew in the back of his mind that Glimmer was strong but not THAT strong, he let out a deep sigh as he tried to differentiate logic with his gut feeling; He took the sword from his back and handed it to her; "I'm putting a LOT of trust in you with this, so make it count." He warned her as he reached for his baton to join the fight.
Adora nodded in thanks to him before rushing forward with the sword in hand after cutting her binds loose. "Hey! Bug Breath! How about you try this on for-" She raised the sword up to swing, hoping to repeat what happened before. "Come on…Come on! You worked before so why not now?!"
The Bug screeched at her while one eye of it's got blasted with Glimmer's magic and the side of it's head was hit by Kai's baton. "You gave her the sword?! Kai, what if she turns on us, she could stab us in the back and kill us!"
"Glimmer, it wouldn't matter because if we don't do something about this bug monster, we die anyway." Kai argued back as he tried to push back the monster.
"For the Honour of Grayskull!" Adora's voice broke their argument as a second blinding flash of light hit the forest, this time however both Glimmer and Kai shielded their eyes.
When the light died down, Standing in front of them was Adora yet she looked different; She had grown more muscular and her hair had grown even longer. A thin golden crown with two wings on each side nestled itself on her head with a red jewel in the center, and solid, golden arm cuffs. Donning a white dress with a golden flower embroidered on the chest and divided by a golden seam that splits the bodice from collar to belt. Her sleeves are golden, pointed pauldrons to match her thick golden belt over her white skirt and with knee-high white and aqua boots.
This was She-Ra, Princess of Power…And she had returned to Etheria.